by Kristin Echols | Feb 16, 2016 | New Zealand, Travel
We were up and out the door at 6:45 this morning. We caught the bus for an hour ride from Nelson to Marahau to meet our water taxi and enter Abel Tasman National Park. We boarded the water taxi and then since the tide was out, it was pulled down the beach by a tractor...
by Kristin Echols | Feb 15, 2016 | New Zealand, Travel
Knowing that we would be beer tasting today, we started our morning walking about downtown Nelson to get our step count up. Our first stop was at Jens Hansen The Ringmaker, not for me but for Shawn. Jens Hansen created the One Ring for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit...
by Kristin Echols | Feb 14, 2016 | New Zealand, Travel
You’re probably wondering “where are the sheep?” There are lots of sheep and cows, but we’re usually driving past them at 100 km/h. On the advice of our server last night, we drove up to Te Mata Peak this morning to get a 360-degree view of...
by Kristin Echols | Feb 13, 2016 | New Zealand, Travel
Before leaving Wellington, we went to the Te Papa Museum of New Zealand on the advice of the Auckland museum director. We got there 10 minutes before the opening and queued (we do that now) for the exhibit “Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War.” It was a very...
by Kristin Echols | Feb 12, 2016 | New Zealand, Travel
We drove to the Hawke’s Bay wine region today for a little wine tasting. For such a small area, it has distinct regions with different growing conditions. We started in the north area at Linden Estate Winery and Restaurant. Tasting rooms are referred to as...
by Kristin Echols | Feb 11, 2016 | New Zealand, Travel
My day started out with a surprise. As Shawn was walking around Matamata this morning in search of coffee (either a long black or a flat white), he found a patchwork shop. The owner was very friendly and showed me her selection of New Zealand designed fabrics (of...
